Fire Safety for Your DHH Student
By Lori Chapman, Mississippi H&V
Parents often do not consider the emergency communication plans and equipment that would meet the needs of their child who is deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). In March 2024, The Columbus MS Dispatch reported that six schools in a single district in Mississippi lacked safety measures as basic as a working fire alarm system (McRae, 2024). Many public schools in Mississippi do not have visual fire alarms, relying on DHH students being with a teacher and hearing peers in the event of an emergency.
The National Association of the Deaf advises that whenever a school building is altered or constructed it must meet the minimum standards in the 2010 ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) section 702 (Fire Alarm Systems) and the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (Section 4.28 Alarms). Both guidelines state that if fire alarms are provided, they must be both auditory and visual. In older buildings, there is an exemption until such a time that the alarm systems need substantial alteration, upgrades, or repairs, which would be triggered by a student or an employee who is DHH in a school building older than 2010 (per the National Fire Protection Association standard NFPA 72. One caveat: sleeping accommodations must be connected to a visual alarm system, or at a minimum, there must be a receptable to allow plugging in a visual alarm. The National Deaf Center’s Visual Fire Alarms tip sheet is a good source of explanation.
As parents of a DHH child, we should talk with our school leaders, local fire departments, and others about emergency communication plans and explore inexpensive ways of ensuring the safety of our children at school. Oftentimes, there are initiatives with the local fire department or the Red Cross to provide free or low-cost alarms to community members which may be able to work with a local school to provide alarms.
Understanding the procedures to be followed is also critical. Some staff may mistakenly warn DHH students and their teachers about fire and other emergency drills so that they do not get the opportunity to truly practice emergency procedures. If the emergency plan is generic, it may assume everyone can quickly make it to a designated meeting spot, not accounting for students with special needs.
If your child has an IEP or 504, make certain that emergency plan needs are included in the plan. At parent-teacher conferences, open houses or meet the teacher’s night, parents can plant the seeds about emergency procedures, and confirm during IEP or 504 meetings that everyone is aware of procedures to include students with additional needs in the overall plan.
Many school leaders in rural public schools throughout Mississippi have no knowledge about issues specific to hearing differences, so our conversations can raise awareness while making efforts to ensure our children’s safety, the safety of teachers, and visitors who have hearing differences. These issues are often not thought about until after the devastating effects of an emergency. By being proactive and having honest conversations, we can avoid having to learn by painful or tragic experiences. ~
Reference
McRae, E. (2024, March 22). Six CMSD schools lack fire alarms, other safety basics. Retrieved from The Dispatch: https://cdispatch.com/news/six-cmsd-schools-lack-fire-alarms-other-safety-basics/
H&V Communicator –Winter 2026